Top Essays USB Drive

This USB drive contains 100 of the top This I Believe audio broadcasts of the last ten years, plus some favorites from Edward R. Murrow's radio series of the 1950s. It's perfect for personal or classroom use! Click here to learn more.

I believe in alternative energies. No, not the hybrids you see rolling down the street, their owners so proud to say that they are saving the environment. Hybrid cars, in one form or another, have been around for decades. The alternative methods of transportation I’m talking about are fully gasoline-independent.

Since the turn of the millennium, the focus on alternative power sources has been stepped up. It was a major topic in the recent 2008 election. Wind and solar energies, relatively new technologies as far as power production, are already being touted as the new way to power homes, even entire cities. But solar panels and immense wind farms are expensive and take time to build. This I understand.

What I do not understand is why more automakers don’t get behind fully alternative vehicles. There are smaller companies around the world, and certainly on American soil, where cars are being made that look and perform like any sports car you could care to purchase. And yet, they use not a single gallon of gas. What immediately comes to mind is the Tesla Motor Company, based on the West Coast. Their Roadster can go just as far on a single 3.5 hour full charge as the average SUV can go on a full tank of gas. And it can go from 0-60mph in 3.9 seconds.

Electricity is not the only alternative means of travel. Perhaps my favorite one to ponder is the hydrogen-powered car. Though most prototypes around the world are hybrid electric-hydrogen, the concept is an excellent one. Because of the method used to create energy from the hydrogen, the only emission is water. As in, you can run it through a filter a couple of times and drink what comes out of the exhaust pipe.

I was watching a show on the Discovery Channel the other day which was discussing future methods of transportation. Besides hydrogen and electricity, the show introduced me to men who want to power the automobile industry with what we throw out. With a few adjustments, one man’s truck runs on what is essentially deep fat fryer grease. Another runs his vehicles on liquefied organic garbage. I ask myself why it is so difficult for Detroit to introduce cars like these when the average American can with certainly the same skill as the automakers have at their disposal, build cars that run this way.

The government can force the automakers to build strictly alternative automobiles. Indeed, it seems the new presidential administration has interests in doing just that. The technology is there. The cars can be made affordable, sturdy, and just as sporty as anyone could want. This has been proven, and this I believe.

Essay of the Week

When she was young, Lauren LeBlanc had grand dreams of living in New York and singing on Broadway. Instead, she became a mom and schoolteacher in suburbia. While it’s not the life she once imagined, LeBlanc now knows she wouldn’t have it any other way. Click here to read her essay.